THE GOSPEL
THE GOSPEL
In considering the gospel we have to take into account him who was the first to whom it is said to have been announced, that is, Abraham. “The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed”, Galatians 3:8. Abraham represents God’s sovereignty in blessing, and his call out from a world already departed from God is the judgment, morally, of that world. As separated, Abraham becomes the depositary of God’s promises of blessing. He is a type of Christ as here in the flesh, as Isaac is a type of the Lord as risen out of death. It is when the world, as set up primarily by God in blessing, has become apostate, that the necessity of the gospel is rightly seen. There is no hope for the man set up in responsibility, so God acts sovereignly and brings in One in whom is seen absolute separation from the world, and He is the vessel of blessing.
In Romans 1 the Person in whom the gospel is effected is brought before us. He is David’s seed according to the flesh. He is a real Man, but He is declared Son of God by resurrection from the dead. It is a great thing to see the greatness of the Person in whom the gospel is made good. The almightiness of God comes out in Christ. In order that the blessing should become effective for all the families of the earth, the Lord had to die; but the power of resurrection was inherent in Him. He has annulled death, and brought life and incorruptibility to light by the gospel. The gospel in its fulness includes everything that God has for man, but righteousness and life are the two leading features of it. These answer to the two trees in Eden.
[p. 314] The question of responsibility has to be faced first. Christ met it on the cross, but we have to face it in the experience of our souls, and measure it rightly. It was to this end the law was given. Law did not bring in sin, and it cannot remove it; but law brought the knowledge of sin into the world in order that man should be instructed in regard to it. Adam was under law as a test. In the garden it was a question of not doing, but by the injunction Adam was tested as to whether he could obey. Nobody can rule unless he can obey, and Adam failing in this showed his unfitness for government. Christ obeyed even unto death, and He is exalted to the place of universal rule.
In Romans 3 the point is that man should come to the knowledge of sin, so that he should appreciate what is set forth in the mercy seat. It is not a question whether you or I may have the knowledge of sin: “by law is knowledge of sin” (literally) is abstract. Man was placed under the law in order that his true character might be made manifest to himself. The law is therefore a testimony on God’s part; it was given in kindness to man in order that he might have the knowledge of sin. This testimony came out in Israel, and it is available for Christians now.
The law comes before the mercy seat in Scripture. The former is in Exodus 20, and the latter in Exodus 25. The testimony of the law, therefore, precedes that of the mercy seat; and this is so in the experience of our souls. The mercy seat was there before the blood was placed on it. Christ, personally, was the mercy seat upon whom, as it were, God looked down; now that He has died, the blood is upon the mercy seat before God. Romans 3 presents the mercy seat, and so it is wider in its bearing than Exodus 12. There is a great difference between a man’s door, where at the passover, the blood was sprinkled, and the throne of God! The latter stands in relation to the whole universe. The mercy seat is Christ risen.
[p. 315] The Lord arose in an entirely new state. Becoming Man, He took a state in which He could be a victim, and that state ended in death. The blood sprinkled on the mercy seat was from the sin offering, and the entire carcase of the animal whose blood was carried into the holiest was burned without the camp. That is, there is a testimony before God that the responsible man — the man that sinned — has disappeared in judgment. But the Man who bore the judgment, so as to terminate the responsible man to God’s glory, lives before God now in another condition. But in this condition there is the testimony that death occurred in the previous one. Hence Christ, as risen, is the mercy seat, “his blood” being the witness that death has taken place.
Justification is, therefore, in Christ risen. It is the portion of him that “is of the faith of Jesus”. What is presented in the mercy seat is “on the principle of faith, to faith”. Romans 1:17. The preacher has to make clear the truth of the mercy seat, and that things are on the principle of faith; but he cannot produce faith in a man’s soul. God alone can do this, and unless the hearers have faith the most perfect, preaching must be ineffective. In Simon’s house in Luke 7 the Lord was, as it were, the mercy seat and what was in Him was equally available for Simon as for the sinful woman that came in. Simon, however, had not faith, whereas the woman had. She is a beautiful example of the activity of faith. Hers was a faith that availed itself of what divine bounty had placed within its reach in Christ. This woman, doubtless, considered herself undeserving and weak, but the Lord knew how to appraise perfectly what was in her heart. He said to Simon that “she loved much”, Luke 7:47 and to herself He said, “Thy faith hath saved thee”. Luke 7:50. He did not simply say, “Faith has saved thee”, but, “Thy faith hath saved thee”. This was for her encouragement. The same [p. 316] is seen in the following chapter, Luke 8. The woman who had the issue of blood came trembling, but the Lord said, “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole”. Luke 8:48.
But the gospel involves the burial of Christ as well as His death and resurrection. The apostle brings this forward in 1 Corinthians 15:3,4, how that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures”. Viewed as having died for our sins, the Lord had to be buried so that God’s requirements should be fully complied with.
It is a great moment when we see the scene cleared, morally, of every trace of the first man in the death and burial of Christ. Another Man, Christ risen from the dead, now occupies the ground, and in Him God sets forth His mind for every man. It is a wonderful thought that God has now a Man upon whom He can look with infinite complacency. That Man is the mercy seat. The mercy seat formed the cover of the ark — what was below spoke of the affections of Christ: “Thy law is within my heart”. Psalm 40:8.